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Locke’s Goal Setting Theory – A Detailed Analysis

Introduction

"Goal setting theory" is the principle which defines how people are motivated to require action upon their goals. It is used not only in personal goal setting, but conjointly forms the basis of recent human resource management and business organization psychology.

Locke’s Goal Setting Theory- The Concept

Dr. Edwin Locke initially coined the term “goal setting theory” during his pioneering research into motivation and goal setting within the 1960s. In 1968, he wrote an editorial entitled "Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives". During this report, he concluded that folks (case workers in this context) were a lot of additional doubtless to be motivated by clear goals which had some kind of feedback or measurement process.

More interestingly, however, he stated that it wasn't the goal that provided the motivation, however rather the very fact that the person was actively working towards the goal. He conjointly stated that it was the fact that the person had gone to the trouble of actually setting the goal that would motivate them through to its completion.

He additionally discovered that there was a correlation between how tough and specific a goal was and the results the person achieved from pursuing that goal. His research led him to the conclusion that more troublesome, well-outlined goals led to additional success than poorly defined straightforward goals. Locke later worked in partnership with Dr. Gary Latham, who had also been studying goal setting among the workplace. The 2 doctors had come to similar conclusions primarily based on their individual in-depth research and thus set to figure together on manufacturing a seminal work on the subject of goal setting and motivation.